Diamondbacks Sign Yoan Lopez
The Diamondbacks have announced the signing of Cuban righty Yoan Lopez. He will receive a $8.27MM bonus, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). The deal, as the rules require, is of the minor league variety, meaning that Lopez will come with the full six years of service-time control. (Ben Badler of Baseball America originally reported that the two sides had agreed to terms, and Sanchez was the first to report that the deal was official.)
That contract edges out recent signee Roberto Baldoquin for the highest-ever bonus for an international amateur. Lopez, 21, may have set a new record for international players not classed as professionals, but he actually left money on the table when he signed with the D’Backs, with Sanchez adding that Lopez had a $9MM bonus offer (links to Twitter). Arizona beat out the division-rival Padres and Dodgers, Sanchez adds, with top D’Backs brass convincing Lopez that their organization offered the best and quickest path to the big leagues.
While adding a sought-after international arm without putting the biggest money on the table would seem to count as a win for the Diamondbacks, the signing is not without its drawbacks. Lopez was subject to international spending limits, meaning that his new organization will pay a 100% overage on the amount it goes over its pool allocation and will not be allowed to hand out a $300K+ bonus to any international amateur over the next two July 2 signing periods.
The Diamondbacks join the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and Rays as teams that will begin serving a two-year signing closure starting this summer. That will hurt even more for Arizona, however, as the team will not be able to tap into the largest international allocation for the 2015-16 signing period (as Badler notes on Twitter).
Lopez is likely to open at one of the Class A levels, in Badler’s estimation, where he will begin learning to maximize his raw talents. Badler writes that Lopez has a good frame that he has begun filling out, delivering a fastball that sits in the low-to-mid-90s.
Indians Avoid Arbitration With Moss, Tomlin, Shaw
9:46pm: Tomlin’s deal is guaranteed, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets.
1:35pm: The Indians have agreed to one-year deals to avoid arbitration with first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss ($6.5MM), right-hander Josh Tomlin ($1.5MM) and right-hander Bryan Shaw ($1.55MM), reports Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (on Twitter). Moss’ salary comes in below MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s $7.1MM projection, while Tomlin and Shaw were closer to their respective projections of $1.7MM and $1.5MM.
Mets Avoid Arbitration With Daniel Murphy
The Mets have avoided arbitration with infielder Daniel Murphy by settling at $8MM, Matt Ehalt of The Record reports on Twitter. That was the mid-point between the sides’ just-filed figures ($8.6MM and $7.4MM) and lands just shy of the MLBTR/Matt Swartz projection of $8.3MM.
Murphy, 29, was productive again for the Mets last year and earned his first All-Star nod. Though he has not repeated his big 2011 campaign at the plate, he has been remarkably consistent over the last three seasons. Murphy has averaged a .288/.327/.407 slash over that period, never landing very far from any of those marks in any given year. That makes for a useful player up the middle, though his mediocre glove holds down his overall value.
Red Sox Avoid Arbitration With Rick Porcello
The Red Sox have avoided arbitration with right-hander Rick Porcello with a $12.5MM agreement, WAPT’s Mike Perchick reports on Twitter. He lands just above the $12.2MM projection of MLBTR/Matt Swartz.
Boston acquired Porcello in exchange for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes earlier in the offseason. This is the fourth and final run through arbitration for the former Super Two player, who will hit the open market after the year.
Porcello, 26, is coming off of his best season as a pro. He logged 204 2/3 innings of 3.43 ERA ball, striking out 5.7 and walking 1.8 batters per nine.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Friday
With the deadline to exchange arbitration figures set for noon CT, there figure to be a large number of agreements to avoid arb today, as there were yesterday. All arbitration agreements can be followed using MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker, and we’ll keep track of today’s smaller agreements in this post, with all projections coming courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz…
- Righty Henderson Alvarez agreed to a $4MM deal with the Marlins, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported earlier today on Twitter. Alvarez had been projected to earn $4.5MM after putting up a huge 187-inning, 2.65 ERA campaign entering his first season of arb eligibility.
- The Athletics have agreed to a $1.4MM deal with righty Ryan Cook that includes, MLB.com’s Jane Lee reports on Twitter. Cook gets a slight increase over the $1.3MM he had been projected to earn. Oakland has also inked outfielder Sam Fuld to a $1.75MM deal, per Mike Perchik of WAPT (via Twitter). He too lands just above his projection, which was for $1.6MM.
- Outfielder Collin Cowgill avoided arbitration with the Angels for $995K, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez tweets. He was projected to earn $900K.
- Righties David Carpenter and Nathan Eovaldi both have deals with the Yankees, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reports on Twitter. Carpenter will earn about $1.3MM while Eovaldi will take home $3.3MM
- The Rockies have a deal in place with lefty Rex Brothers, tweets MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. Brothers was projected to earn $1.3MM but will take home $1.4MM, Harding adds via Twitter.
- ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers reports that the Cubs have settled with both Travis Wood and Luis Valbuena (Twitter links). Wood will receive $5.686MM — a bit north of his $5.5MM projection, while Valbuena will earn $4.2MM, per Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald (on Twitter). Valbuena was projected to earn $3.1MM.
- Mike Perchick of WAPT in New Jersey has a wave of arbitration agreements, starting with the Astros and Hank Conger settling on a $1.075MM, which is just $25K behind Swartz’s projection (Twitter link).
- Also via Perchick, the Athletics and Brett Lawrie settled on a $1.925MM contract (Twitter links). Lawrie, who had been projected at $1.8MM, was acquired by Oakland in the Josh Donaldson blockbuster.
- Rockies backstop Michael McKenry will earn $1.0876MM in 2015, via Perchick. McKenry was projected by Swartz to earn $1.5MM.
- Michael Pineda and the Yankees settled on a $2.1MM salary for the upcoming season, Perchick tweets, which is a direct match with Swartz’s projection.
- Domonic Brown and the Phillies settled on a one-year pact worth $2.6MM, via Perchick, which represents a difference of just $100K between Swartz’s projection and the actual figure. Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com tweets that Ben Revere has avoided arbitration as well, and the club now announces that he’ll earn $4.1MM — $100K north of his $4MM projection.
- Red Sox setup man Junichi Tazawa agreed to a $2.25MM payday, according to Perchick. Swartz had pegged him for a $2MM contract.
Tigers Avoid Arb With Price, Simon, Martinez
5:52pm: Martinez will earn $3MM, Perchick tweets.
4:04pm: The club has announced that it has a one-year deal in place with J.D. Martinez, too, leaving only Al Alburquerque among Tigers arb eligibles. Financial terms remain unknown.
1:28pm: Alfredo Simon has also avoided arbitration with Detroit, settling on a $5.55MM salary for 2015 — his final year of team control — according to Mike Perchick of WAPT (Twitter link). He’d been projected at $5.1MM.
12:04pm: The Tigers and left-hander David Price have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a whopping $19.75MM salary for the ace’s final year of team control, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Price’s salary tops the $18.9MM projection of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz by about $900K.
Price’s salary is a record-breaker for a starting pitcher in arbitration, topping the mark set just last winter by his now-former teammate Max Scherzer, who earned a $15.25MM sum. The former No. 1 overall pick split the season between the Rays and Detroit following a last-minute three-team trade on the day of the trade deadline, in which Nick Franklin, Drew Smyly and Willy Adames went to the Rays, with Price heading to the Tigers and Austin Jackson going to the Mariners. In total, Price put together another dominant season, compiling a 3.26 ERA while leading the league in innings pitched (248 1/3) and strikeouts (271).
Pirates Avoid Arbitration With Melancon, Harrison, Snider, Watson
4:21pm: Pittsburgh has also settled with outfielder Travis Snider for $2.1MM, as Mike Perchick of WAPT was first to report (Twitter link). That is just $100K short of the MLBTR/Matt Swartz projection.
Pittsburgh has also reached agreement with reliever Tony Watson for $1.75MM, tweets Perchick. That figure falls a quarter-million shy of Watson’s $2MM projection. And Perchick also reports that Sean Rodriguez and the Pirates have avoided arb with a $1.9MM deal for 2015 — $100K shy of his projection.
2:52pm: The Pirates have agreed to a $5.4MM salary with closer Mark Melancon, according to Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). Additionally, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Josh Harrison will receive $2.8MM on the heels of a breakout 2014 campaign.
While Melancon falls shy of his $7.6MM projection, Swartz explained in an Arbitration Breakdown post that Melancon’s unique statistical profile “broke” his projection algorithm in a way similar to Craig Kimbrel last offseason (when Swartz first wrote about “The Kimbrel Rule“). As Swartz explained in that post, he personally considered Melancon to be a Kimbrel-esque exception to his model and expected a salary in the $5.6MM to $6.1MM range.
The 29-year-old Melancon was dominant for a second straight season in 2014, registering a 1.90 ERA with 9.0 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 33 saves and 14 holds in 71 innings. That rare combination of ERA, saves and holds led the projection model to overshoot Melancon’s salary despite the fact that there’s no historical precedent for a raise of that magnitude for a relief pitcher (hence Swartz’s followup post and personalized expectations for Melancon).
As for Harrison, the 27-year-old broke out with a surprisingly excellent season that landed him ninth in NL MVP voting. Harrison batted .315/.347/.490 with 13 homers and 18 stolen bases, playing strong defense all over the diamond — second, short, third, corner outfield — before settling in at third base and displacing incumbent Pedro Alvarez. Harrison figures to man the hot corner on an everyday basis in 2015. He topped his $2.2MM projection by a hefty $600K.
Mariners Avoid Arb With Jackson, Morrison, Ackley, Furbush
4:10pm: Jackson will earn $7.7MM, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.
2:02pm: The Mariners announced today that they’ve avoided arbitration with Austin Jackson, Logan Morrison, Dustin Ackley and Charlie Furbush. The team also confirmed its previously reported agreement with Justin Ruggiano, who also avoided arbitration.
Terms of Jackson’s signing are not yet known, though he projected to earn $8MM in arbitration, according to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Meanwhile, Mike Perchick of WAPT has the salary figures for each of the others (All Twitter links). Morrison will earn $2.725MM with the ability to earn an extra $25K for reaching 500 and 600 plate appearances. Ackley settled at $2.6MM and will receive an additional $50K upon reaching 500 plate appearances. Furbush is penciled in for a $1.3MM salary that contains no incentives or bonuses.
Morrison, Ackley and Furbush were projected to receive respective salaries of $2.6MM, $2.8MM and $1MM. Meanwhile, the Mariners noted that Tom Wilhelmsen is still arb-eligible, suggesting that the two sides have exchanged or will exchange figures. A deal could still be agreed upon before a hearing, however.
Padres Avoid Arbitration With Kennedy, Ross, Alonso
3:24pm: Ross will earn $5.25MM in 2015, reports MLB.com’s Corey Brock (on Twitter). He’d been projected to earn $5.7MM.
2:09pm: The Padres now announce that they’ve avoided arb with all of their eligible players, including Ross (all others had been previously reported). Terms of Ross’ deal are not yet known, other than the fact that it’s a one-year agreement.
1:40pm: Multiple reports indicate that the Padres and right-hander Ian Kennedy have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $9.85MM salary for 2015, with Mike Perchick of WAPT in New Jersey being the first to report the deal (Twitter link). Kennedy, who is entering his final year of team control prior to free agency, was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $10.3MM. Though the righty’s name was oft-mentioned in trade talks, it appears now that he’ll join Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross atop the club’s rotation.
Perchick also reports that the Padres have avoided arbitration with Yonder Alonso, agreeing to a one-year, $1.65MM pact. Alonso was projected to earn $1.6MM.
Blue Jays Re-Sign Munenori Kawasaki
The Blue Jays announced that they’ve re-signed popular infielder Munenori Kawasaki to a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training.
Kawasaki, a fan favorite due to his affable nature and quirky sense of humor, has batted .244/.327/.302 in 563 plate appearances for the Blue Jays over the past two seasons. The versatile 33-year-old is known more for his glove than his bat and is capable of handling second base, shortstop and third base.